People looking forward to seeing a fireworks celebration this July 4 may have to drive no further than Yell County, pending the approval by the county judge of permits that will allow select municipalities to shoot off fireworks, despite a county-wide burn ban. But they’ll have to go further than Dardanelle because that city has already said they will not have a fireworks show this year due to safety concerns and the county’s burn ban.

Yell County Judge Mark Thone said he has received requests for July 4 fireworks displays from two municipalities —Plainview and Rover — all of which he said he’ll consider approving, provided they take the necessary safety precautions to hold the event.

“They have special conditions they have to meet, like having fire trucks there, men to man the fire trucks and communication with the 911 dispatch,” Thone said.

If approved, the permits will allow a city-sponsored fireworks event, but fireworks will still be prohibited from private use, as current dry conditions provide a substantial risk for fire.

“I’d like to encourage everyone to take their children to their local community fireworks display, where they have a controlled environment,” he said. “If a fire gets started, it’s going to be hard to stop ... once it gets started, it’s going to take off and we have to be extremely careful as dry as it is.”

Dardanelle Mayor Carolyn McGee said the city’s fireworks display is currently canceled, due to a city ordinance that prohibits the discharge of any fireworks at any time the county is under a declared burn ban.

“It’s going to take more than one good rain (to lift the ban),” she said. “As of right now, we’re saying (no fireworks) because that’s what our ordinance says.”

McGee and Dardanelle Chief of Police Montie Sims both said this year will be the first they’ve seen the county under a burn ban over the holiday, thus prohibiting the city’s annual celebration.

“We’ve never been this dry before,” Sims said. “Normally our fire bans come later in the year, usually near the end of July or in August.”

Chris Buonanno, who is a science and operations officer with the National Weather Service in Little Rock, said that while temperatures in Russellville may be cooler tonight, temperatures in the high 90s or low 100s can be expected again by the end of the week.

As of late Monday afternoon, www.weather.org showed a 0 percent chance of precipitation between today and July 4 — a pattern the River Valley has seen since summer began.

“A lot of times, this part of the year we do get complexes of thunderstorms that form overnight and move in from the west, and give us substantial precipitation,” Buonanno said.

“We haven’t seen much of those.”

While many will undoubtedly take to their grills for a celebratory cookout for Wednesday’s holiday, Thone stressed the importance of keeping the flames away from any easily-ignited areas, such as dry grass, but added that grilling on concrete is not required during the ban.

“Just use common sense and be very careful. Keep an eye on things,” he said. “I know there’s going to be a lot of people cooking out over the holidays, but you’re just going to have to be extremely careful.”